What has that got to do with fountain pens I can almost hear you saying? I'll try to explain. It has always struck me that the two titans of the fountain pen world - Pelikan and Montblanc - are a little bit like Xbox and PlayStation. More specifically, their respective flagship models the M1000 and … Continue reading Xbox or PlayStation?

I recently wrote a blog post in which I said that I am having difficulty in using anything other than my Montblanc 149 and 146. This has made me ponder how us fountain pen types can go through phases. Not long ago my daily carry was very Visconti based (I own more Visconti pens than … Continue reading Phases of fountain pen ownership

For many in the cycling world, truing a wheel or even worse lacing the spokes of a wheel is almost like some sort of dark art, even alchemy. For me at least, doing anything that might be termed nib tuning, is very much the same thing. Over the years I have read blog posts and … Continue reading Nib tuning…a kind of alchemy?!

I remember vividly when I first bought a second hand 'Pelikan M1000' with its #8 nib. Prior to this, I had deliberated for weeks as to whether it would just be too big for everyday use. I don't own a M1000 anymore but did use one a friend owns the other day and it struck … Continue reading Oversize pens feeling smaller?

Anyone with an interest in fountain pens might succumb to desiring a pen that could be regarded a grail pen. In this blog post I will explore this aspect of being a fountain pen fan a little further. Grail pens - perhaps like the Holy Grail - take on a status rendering them almost unobtainable … Continue reading Grail Pens – which one is yours?